In recent years, interest in providing rail-type mass transit in urban and suburban areas, between adjacent pairs of cities, between cities and satellite service facilities such as outlying airports, sports stadia and the like has increased.
Often the feasibility of providing or extending such a transit system fundamentally hinges on cost.
Although some cities, such as San Francisco, Calif., Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Md. were successful in initiating construction of their rail urban mass transit systems at a time when a combination of cost factors worked in their favor, those same conjunctions of favorable factors do not presently exist: federal government funding assistance is not so forthcoming, energy prices are at least temporarily in decline, right of way land acquisition costs and construction costs have risen, and car fabrication plants have closed down domestic production lines.
Yet the need of many for convenient rail-type mass transit goes unmet. It is clear that if more of such mass transit systems are to be built, some innovations are needed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,064 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference), monorail beam is provided with a lower, upwardly-facing support surface, a lower, laterally-facing support surface and an upper, medially-facing support surface (relative to the support beam). Vehicles are hangingly supported, pendulum-like, from davit-like cantilevering arms of support drive units having wheels which run on or act against the beam support surfaces so that they run along the side or sides of the beam. The beam may be elevated on columns, surface mounted, or depressed in tunnels. By preference, the vehicles' bodies are detachable from the drive units, and the heaviest air-conditioning components are mounted on the drive units rather than on the bodies. Power transmission and automatic control systems are described, as are switching systems and station facilities.
While the transit system described in the '064 patent constitutes a viable rail system for many urban and suburban regions, it and other transit systems can be improved in many areas, including utility, safety, comfort, and cost-effectiveness in installation and maintenance.
For example, transit vehicles normally are rubber-tired where possible to prevent excessive noise from being propagated to the surrounding environment and causing noise pollution. A drawback to this method is that rubber tires have speed limits (60 to 70 miles per hour) due to construction limits of the tire material, and rubber tires are subject to catastrophic failure when overheated or when overloaded. Additionally, rubber tires normally wear out rapidly in transit service and must be inspected and replaced at regular intervals. Steel wheels on steel rail are preferred for low operating cost, longevity, and safety, but noise damage to the environment makes use of such materials undesirable.
According to one aspect of this invention, an improved construction and method are presented for using steel wheels on steel rails which provide quiet operation and low operating cost, longevity, and safety.
Passenger vehicles operating between cities or which must accommodate passengers for long distance travel presently use railway-type cars which have limited space for carry-on baggage and no provision for wheelchair-borne passengers, refreshments, and toileting facilities.
According to another aspect of this invention, a dual-sided monorail vehicle plan accommodates all requirements for intercity travel for improved comfort for passengers.
Freight is presently moved between origin and destination points by drive unit, rail, barge, and aircraft. In locations where roadways are crowded and air pollution problems may cause drive unit operation to be restricted or prohibited, an alternative means of moving freight is needed. Rail freight methods are an acceptable alternative, but the marshaling of rail cars for movement of trains makes the time consumed undesirable, and a better method is needed. Also, in freight movement by air there is a need for the very rapid transshipment of freight from aircraft arriving at one airport to be moved to a second airport so that departing aircraft may continue with the movement of the freight by air.
According to another aspect of this invention, a vehicle provides a means for moving such freight rapidly between points in less than trainload quantities (i.e., in single container quantities) without causing airborne pollution and at a speed much higher than that offered by the alternative modes of transportation. It also allows single units of freight to be moved by fully automated means, reducing labor costs and shipping time. A new lightweight freight container used in the system has the ability to be transferred easily between the available freight modes.
In conventional braking systems the ability to stop a vehicle is limited to the amount of heat energy which can be stored in conventional brake drums, brake discs, steel wheels, or other brake system heat-sinks which move with the vehicle, and which may be overloaded from the absorption of kinetic energy caused by frequent vehicle stops.
According to another aspect of this invention, a braking system, which would be used primarily in rapid transit systems and railway systems has a fixed guideway with a brake plate or combination rail and brake plate, such that the heat sink is the rail plate or brake plate which absorbs the kinetic energy while continuously presenting a new heat sink for use by the moving brake pads. Additionally, the cooler rail plate or brake plate will cool the moving brake pads preventing overheating of the brake pads, extending brake pad longevity. The system can be used on vehicles with rubber tires or with steel wheels on rails or with magnetic levitation systems. The system can be controlled to be partially-acting or fully acting according to design and operation choices.
Transit systems require unloading of passengers and loading of passengers for each vehicle as a vehicle presents itself in a station. In stations where the vehicles are presented at brief intervals, but unloading and loading of passengers requires a period longer than the station dwell time (the period of time the vehicle is stopped for unloading and loading operations) allowed by the vehicle intervals (headway), a means is desirable for allowing both short vehicle headways and long station dwell time.
According to another aspect of this invention, a passenger loading/unloading system allows both short vehicle headways and long station dwell time.
Transit vehicles remain in transit passenger stations sufficiently long to discharge arriving passengers and board departing passengers, the time period being called dwell time. In transit systems with short headway times (separation of consecutive vehicles along a transit vehicle path) dwell times may be greater than the headway time, creating a limitation of the briefness of headways, thereby limiting the efficiency of the transit system.
According to another aspect of this invention, a procedure described herein extends the effective dwell time of a vehicle without negatively affecting the headway time of the system.
Structural beams on top of columns supporting such beams may move with respect to the columns from forces caused by thermal expansion and contraction, as well as from local vibration forces and from earthquakes and earth tremors. It is desirable that beams on top of columns remain where placed by design.
According to another aspect of this invention, a beam stabilizer prevents lateral movement of beams on columns, while allowing motion of beams linearly as may be caused by thermal expansion and contraction.
Concrete support columns for fixed guideway transit systems, bridges, roadways, and buildings frequently employ site-erected methods for construction. This present system is expensive, and places construction workers at grave risk when construction work is alongside in-use roadways or in buildings under construction.
According to another aspect of this invention, a construction and method presented herein will reduce danger to workers, reduce costs of construction, and speed up the construction of fixed guideway transit systems, bridges, roadways, and buildings, while allowing increased control of quality of the finished product.
A beam to be used for supporting fixed guideways, roadways, bridges, or buildings may have more uses than as only a structural beam. By design, a beam may have a hollow core to allow for greater structural strength for resistance to bending in any plane or in torsion. In a fixed guideway there is a need for a place to insert a top-of-column extension insert to restrain the end or other portion of a beam from lateral movement, a need for a location for protected electrical power, control, and communications wiring or light guides, and a need for assisting extension of gas, water and liquid fuels in pipelines which are not underground.
According to another aspect of this invention, a construction is presented which maximizes the utility of the beam supporting the fixed guideways by providing spaces for power and optic lines and piping or other forms of conduit.
In transit systems there is a requirement for coupling of normally independent automated (driverless) or non-automated (with driver) transit vehicles for use as a single train of two or more transit vehicles and for coupling of drive units of a single vehicle. Present methods of coupling are with mechanical couplers between drive or idler drive units of the coupled vehicles.
According to another aspect of this invention, mechanical and control coupling of multiple transit vehicles or drive units is provided by physical interconnection of drive units mounted on a guideway, but without physical interconnection of passenger cabins or freight containers. Further, the linkage between two drive units serving one cabin or container provides a linkage for combining the motive thrust or braking of both interconnected drive units.
Dual-sided monorail systems have a special geometry relationship between the guideway-mounted drive units and the vehicle. In a dual-sided monorail system having separate but linkage bar interconnected drive units on a guideway and a bottom supported or top suspended cabin for passengers or a freight container, the support or suspension arms must be rigidly attached to the vehicle or the drive units with motion of a rotating support arm pivoting only at one end. As a preference, rigid attachment of the support arms to the drive units with a rotation axis of the support arms at the drive units ends necessitates providing a means for movement of the same arms with respect to the cabin or container.
According to another aspect of this invention, an apparatus establishes a means for allowing motion of the support arms for a transit vehicle on a curved fixed guideway while also providing for vertical support of the cabin or container. It simultaneously provides thrusting and retarding forces applied from the drive units end of the support arms to the cabin or container.
Vehicles on guideways with tracks on fixed beds normally maintain the beds level with the passenger unloading/loading station platform so that the vehicle cabin floor is level with the platform. In a vehicle with spring, hydraulic or air bag suspension, variable and asymmetrical passenger loading can cause a vehicle to be at a station platform in a non-level position, both laterally and longitudinally. There is a need for a means for leveling such a vehicle while in a station so that unloading and loading of the vehicle can be accomplished with the vehicle floor in the same plane (level) as the station platform.
According to another aspect of this invention, a cabin leveling system provides for a low-cost reliable means for such leveling.
In a vehicle with hydraulic, air bag or spring suspension, asymmetrical and variable passenger loading can cause a vehicle to be on a guideway in a non-level position, both laterally and longitudinally.
According to another aspect of this invention, a system is provided for positioning a vehicle cabin floor such that passengers feel centrifugal and gravity forces perpendicular with respect to the cabin floor while in motion along the vehicle pathway by causing the system to tilt the vehicle to predetermined angles while in curved pathways on a guideway, thereby accommodating the comfort of passengers within the cabin by allowing the cabin to modify centrifugal forces acting on the passengers to be perceived as perpendicular to the floor, as in a banked roadway or railway, but without banking the guideway. Such a tilting system can provide such banking curves with centrifugal forces either away from the guideway or toward the guideway, depending on the curvature of the section of guideway being encountered by the vehicle.
Transit vehicles may from time to time require auxiliary means for moving a vehicle with drive units and cabin or freight container to selected locations on a guideway for service or removal and to access the guideway for maintenance and inspection services.
According to another aspect of this invention, the auxilliary means is a vehicle positioned either behind the vehicle requiring moving, or in front of the vehicle requiring moving. The vehicle may include a towing or pushing bar connecting drive units, as is provided for in interconnecting drive units and trains of vehicles. Additionally, top-of-guideway vehicles may be required to perform as fire-protection vehicles, emergency medical services vehicles, maintenance support, or passenger evacuation vehicles, where ordinary ground-based services are not convenient. A vehicle is described herein for using the flat roadway-type surface of the top of a guideway where the guideway is sufficiently wide to accommodate such vehicles.
Heavy and long beams which must be transported on highways are difficult to move due to the geometry of the transporting vehicles not easily matching the beams being moved. The present method is to use a single rigid trailer with the beam supported by the trailer and a set of wheels for the portion of the beam overhanging the end of the trailer, imposing a very heavy load on the trailer and roadway, sometimes causing damage. Further, the size and weight of the beams to be transported is limited by the means for transport and the limitations of wheel loading on roadways.
According to another aspect of this invention, a mechanism is provided for transporting long beams which overcomes these disadvantages
In automated and operator-assisted transit systems there is a need for a means of transmitting control information from a central supervising station to a moving vehicle and for a moving transit vehicle to determine its exact location within a geographical area. Additionally, there is a need for transmitting control data, video images, voice, location data and other information from a moving vehicle to a central supervising station. At present the methods used are primarily via proximity signals along the guideway or track and by visual signals which are read by vehicle operators. These present methods are inadequate for supervision and control of driverless vehicles and for assistance to vehicle operators.
According to another aspect of this invention, a wireless communication system allows for wireless communication between a transit vehicle and central control location and between a transit vehicle and a geostationary satellite.
Dual-sided monorail vehicles have a spatial relationship with guideway beams which require that special consideration be given to the length of a cabin such that the moving cabin will not touch the guideway when the guideway is curved. To avoid the touching of the guideway by the cabin, the cabin length can be kept short or the space between the guideway and the cabin can be increased.
According to another aspect of this invention, a cabin is divided into two or more articulating sections such that the apparent cabin length will be shortened and the problem will be minimized.
Present methods of transit system passengers continuing to their destinations after using a transit system and arriving at a transit station include pick-up by others in cars, use of personal cars parked in station parking lots, walking, buses, and taxicabs. Walking is sometimes not a solution to the passenger's needs because of weather, time consumed and long distances involved. Buses are very slow, and frequently do not go near the final destination. Taxicabs resolve these problems, but sometimes are not available and are costly and inconvenient. Dedicated personal vehicles are very expensive to purchase, insure and maintain. An alternative means is needed to provide a low cost, quick, convenient and reliable way for transit passengers to continue to final destinations and for use during the day for short trips for lunch and shopping. The use of a transit vehicle for a high percentage of a trip distance would reduce the amount of air pollution caused by the trip, extend the utilization of new and existing transit systems to reduce the amount of roadway space used by the trip.
According to another aspect of the invention, rental cars are provided as an option for use by patrons of the transit system to complete the transit trip.
Steel wheels providing traction on steel rails are limited to the coefficient of friction between the materials such that the reactive force from a drive wheel to a rail is limited. This is a problem when providing traction to a vehicle drive wheel where a steel rail is used since angles of climb are limited to the reactive force developed before slipping occurs, usually about 12% slope.
According to another aspect of this invention, a construction provides positive traction between the drive wheel and the steel rail to allow vehicles to increase angles of climb above 12% slope.
Stations for monorail systems are usually elevated and located above at-grade access of passengers. Such stations are costly and inconvenient to construct.
According to another aspect of this invention, a lower cost station arrangement allows passenger boarding of monorail vehicles at grade.
Transit and other vehicles which operate using alternating current (AC) electric motors need a lower cost means of applying motor torque and limiting revolutions per minute (rpm) of the motor output so that smooth vehicle starting and closely managed speed controlling can be accomplished.
According to another aspect of this invention, a speed and acceleration control system provided eliminates methods currently used which consist of costly and energy inefficient direct current rectifiers, alternating current wave choppers, frequency modulators, mechanical clutches, and belts and pulleys in order to provide for a lower cost, more reliable, lighter weight speed and acceleration control means which can be used for the special motive needs of transit and other vehicles. The arrangement specified allows an alternating current (AC) motor to run constantly at full rated rpm and power with output drive shaft torque and rpm modified to match the requirements of a transit vehicle.
Dual-sided monorail systems have a need for switching of vehicles from one guideway to another to allow for replacement of vehicles, maintenance, and system utilization of vehicles and guideways. Present methods for switching vehicles allow for displacement of guideways through lateral translation, vertical translation, and swinging of a beam from a fixed point. A need exists for a means to switch a dual-sided monorail system at high speed and short cycle times in order to allow high speed switching of vehicles in motion while not limiting vehicle headways on a system.
According to another aspect of the invention, a mechanism is provided for a swinging beam adaptation for a dual-sided monorail to provide effect such switching.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation of the invention and the function and interrelation of the elements of structure, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this disclosure, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.